Daily Republican., 1887-04-14
HOW wOkKIN0ME EN- work II
ITALY.
rHarpsr's Mage zine for April.l

this assertion is true or untrue, tne
question of how the workingman
lives in Europe, as compared with how
he lives in America, is interesting.
For year l wore worklngman
blouse, and mingled and lived with
the workingmen of nearly every State
in Europe from Gibraltar to the Bos-
porus, and from the Mediterranean to
the cold shores of the Baltic. since
nv return to America have engaged
in a similar investigation as to the con-
dition OF the wage earners OF my own
land.
The cost of living is greater in
America than in any State in Europe.
1t is ten to twenty per cent. higher
than in England; it is twice as high as
lin France; it is three times as ex-
pensiye as in Italy Is this difference
lin the cost of living commensurate
with the difference in wages? posi-.
|bly in England on the Continent, l
should say, decidedly, the low cost OF
living does not fully compensate tor
the low wages received. The Euro
pean workingman manages to exist by
reducing the standard of living, anu
buying only such articles as are abso-
Ilutely nece ssary. There are men in
Italy who earn only seven cents Tor a
days work of fourteen hours-one-
half a cent per hour. Very few
Iskilled mechanics earn as much as
dollar day; the average does not ex-
coed fifty cents. The Italian mechanic
manages to get through on this sum,
partly because of the cheapness oil
living, but principally because of his
wonderful economy, and happy dis
position, that enables him to be salts
lied and contented with conditions at
(which even an American beggar would
|rebel.
There is no waste in Italian kitchens,
mot even in kitchens of the rich. The
Irefuse of the rich mans kitchen Is
|carefully stored by the cook, and sold
Ito dealers in second hand" food. who
lin turn retail it to the poor. This per
Iquisite forms quite an item in thu
lcook's income. He dries and sells The
Icoffee grounds used in his master:
Icoffee; he saves the drippings O
, the oil in which the fish are tried Oh
1.-The macaroni is cooked lays by th<
shaylngs and drippings from the can
ldles, and for these ana similar sma,
odds and ends receives at least three Of
four lire sixty or eighty cents
month. The markets where these
PARTICLES are sold are usually on thu
Piazza, or open square, found in al
Italian cities. From one and the SAINT
!. lvender may be purchased almost any
t Particle, from picked cucumber to ,
8 rusty sword. The market man s4uat
Ion the broad, smooth stones of thu
Piazza with his goods piled arounC
Ihim-old clothes, nails, second hant
food, dried coffee grounds, candle ends
+, ld-ippings, tools, knives and forks
q rusty iron bedsteads, and host o
other articles too numerous to men
ltion. 1t is from such sources that til
Economical Italian housewife obtain
her provisions, her clothing, and he
y furniture.
81 The average rent paid by the TIA
u liam working man TO his room, h
y home and wors shop combined, is 81
70 to SIS year. II he is stone masOr
, or engaged in any her work thu
q. does not require him to make worl
te shop of his home he may, for the SAX
i. of sunshi e and air, pay more-$lS
In $20-and take room higher up, y
ie the third or fourth floor. Those wi
10 lare able 10 do this are not many. Th
majority must content themselves wit
the cheaper rooms in Easements al
lon ground floors. Unmarried WORT
i'd ing men, if not living at home, live
ii. lodgings where beds cost three or tOl
q !cents night. A very poor labor
ne will hire for five cents a double bed
ne that is, one ABOUT four feet wide al
ID share it with a companion, thus ma
u. ing the cost for each only two and
81 half cents. Sometimes as many as
no sleep in room not fifteen feet sqnai
he the beds being arranged like bunl
one above the other, two persons
each bunk, the s!eepers" spooning"
gether, packed ike sardines.
,h- At twelve o clock, after six houl
Ids WORK, our Italian goes 10 the near
'eF ''trattoria, ami tor seven or ely
eIe cents gets hearty dinner Of maCai
"a mi, bread and wine. The VINE us
a. is the last drippngs squeezed from
AZ grapes. It's really little more tn
nd $50 much sour water, and is bought
he! eight or len cents a quart. Ii
working man has j family Il MESS
five or six pounds Of maCaroni, cost
,lseventeen OF nineteen cents, is p
oi pared by the wife 1--we pound oaI
bread is bought for fifteen cents, hi
A. 4 y